The Houston Rockets shot nearly 53% from the field in the TD Garden, upsetting the Boston Celtics 108-102

Marquis Daniels and Ray Allen recorded team highs of 19 points and seven rebounds to lead Boston. Daniels shot 7-8 from the field, while Allen connected on 8-13 attempts. Rajon Rondo added nine points and 12 assists, while Glen Davis provided another mediocre effort, scoring only 12 points on 6-14 shooting, and grabbing a measly five boards.

The Celts and Rockets battled back and forth all 1st half, with Houston leading by five after the opening frame and one at the break, 50-49. Boston trailed by as many as nine points before cutting the deficit to a point, partially thanks to a buzzer beating runner by Rondo. Pierce and Daniels who each netted seven points, were two of the nine C's who reached the scoreboard in the first 24 minutes.

The Rockets re-extended their lead to a half a dozen in the 3rd quarter, netting 30 points on a sloppy Boston defense. Houston proceeded to make shot after shot in the final frame. In fact, after Courtney Lee missed a jumper just 35 seconds into the quarter, the Rockets didn't miss an unfouled attempt from the field until Brooks missed a jumper with 2:33 left in regulation.
After Allen connected on a trey to cut Boston's deficit to seven, Rondo pulled down a defensive rebound with just over a minute left and took off on the break. He sailed a cross-court pass between Allen and Pierce to wipe away Boston's last chances of coming back.

After getting another stop, Pierce did knock down a three. The C's dragged out the last 30 seconds like only an NBA team could, but never got closer than four.

With the loss, Boston falls to 28-9, while the Rockets improve to 17-21. The Celts return to the court Wednesday night, when sophomore sensation Tyreke Evans and the Kings come to Beantown for a 7:30 PM matchup.

Yea Stephen, we are turning into a team that is relying on offense to win. When you don't rebound ever, and you turn the ball over a lot, you give up a lot of points. This is usually overcome only if you score an even bigger amount of points.

Perhaps Doc needs to try leaving an extra guy on the boards for rebounding purposes, yielding a man on the fast break, and remind some of our guys that lazy passes are not acceptable.

I agree, Big Baby is taking wayyy too many shots; and not quality shots at that. He is better in the paint, he needs to take it inside and let the other guys shoot jumpers. I think Doc calls it HERO BALL. I am getting disgusted with Nate's pouting when he gets more than 1 foul, he stops everything. This dribbling all over the place, supposedly attempting to set up a play doesn't produce much. WE WANT OUR KG BACK AND WE WANT HIM NOW! I hope we can learn from these miserable games, and get our heads back on straight. I am going to see the Celtics vs. Trailblazers in three weeks, and hope that KG, Delonte, and maybe even Perk are back in--we need 'em!